The Poultry-Yard

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 42, 7 January 1921, Page 11

The Poultry-Yard

(By S.Q.M.).

PURCHASING STOCK. An axiom the aeceptance of which should be apparent to all poultry breeders, is that "the best is the eheapest in the long run." Presuming that the reader is prepared to lay out a respectable sum for the purchase of breeding stock, it may be said that he should not consider where be ban get the eheapest stock, but he must consider where he can get good stock, and if his purse allows him, where he can obtain the best. Most especially in regard to male birds does this apply, for an inferior male bird is, as a breeder, dear at any price. The cockerel or cock is at least half the pen, and so have him as near perfection as possible. When buying a pen of breeding birds it is far better, instead of buying them here and there, to obtain them all from the one man, and he an experienced breeder. By purchasing from a breeder of experience one may generally rely on securing birds which are not the good chance progeny of inferior stock, but birds whose parents and grand-parents were birds of the right stamp. A male bird with any serious defect, such as in the heavier breeds, a single-sprig or feathered legs, should be passed by, and if you have one in your possession, see that he passes out Sometimes Black Orpington cockerels, with a little white in earlohe, may he noticed. Although the writer has not tried the experiment, he is of the opinion that such a cockerel if mated to females with really red ear-lohes should, in view of the fact that a red earlobe is dominant over the white, produce progeny the majority of which would have red earlobes. It is not advisable to cross two distinct strains, as sometimes they might not "nick." It is better to mate together birds of the same strain, but see that they are not too closely related. By buying from the one breeder you can obtain birds of the same blood, but not too closely related. A little inhreeding is a good plan for those who fully understand it, but others would do well not to dabble in it. If you have not a very good knowledge of the breed in which you desire to invest; your best line of procedure is to feave the mating in the hands of the vendor, providing, of course, he is a competent and reliable man. To get in early is a very desirable point in buying stock, for should you leave your purchasing until late, you have but little chance of securing the best on the sale list. CONSTITUTION. A bird. is worthless as a breeder if signs indicative of constitution are not present. The male to breed from is one fairly bubbling over with constitution, and which is the son of a great laying female Thus to his progeny will he transmit the laying qualities of his dam, together with his own constitution. Indications of con. stitution are, bright, prominent, full eyes, clean face, good breadth of back, general activity , and tightness of feathering. The hen or pullet with the constitution is the one to maintain her output of eggs throughout the yea-r. Such are the conditions of poultry-keeping to-day, that only those who fully understand their business and who allow no unprofitable birds on their plants can make a respectable profit ■■out of the feathered tribe. There are men in New Zealand clearing £1000 per annum from fowls, but their success, no doubt, is due to several years experience, combined with aptitude for the work. It is nothing short of sheer madness for the novice to erect many large houses, buy a large amount of stock, and fondly imagine that soon an annual income of about £1000 will he his own. The fact that he will be keeping many unprofitable fowls — birds which rob him of the profit he would otherwise obtain from the payable ones — together with his ignorance of the correct methods of feeding and of checking disease, and, in short, his inability to overcome the many diffi(cuL?!:s that poultry-keeping presents to the novice, would for him, spell ruination. The correct way is to start with a few fowls as a side line to some other business, gradually increasing the flock and gaining experience until the owner is capable of g'oing right in to poultry farming a-s a business on its own. Touching the .profits to he made from poultry it is our opinion that about 10s a year is about the profit a small pullet should show on her first year. Cost oi rearing, etc., have been taken into consideration, and in this case we presume the pullet to be sold at the end of her first laying season. If, however, you do not oull, you cannot expect to realise the profit mentioned. A thoroughly competent man with good laying stock should. make a deal more than 10s a bird — it is believed that a man in Auckland makes £1 per- bird, but he is a very keen and capable man.